“Maybe UAE will finally take Jorgenson off their blacklist now” - Visma star’s key role in Brandon McNulty’s rainbow triumph touted as potential Pogacar peacemaker

Matteo Jorgenson has spent much of the last two seasons racing on the opposite side of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates - XRG. In Montreal, the Visma star ended up playing a crucial part in helping one of their riders into the rainbow jersey.

Jorgenson was wearing American colours rather than Visma’s at the World Championships, but his job became increasingly important once Brandon McNulty escaped with 33 kilometres remaining. While McNulty built his advantage, Jorgenson and Quinn Simmons stayed alive behind him, forcing every rival nation to think twice about how much they were prepared to contribute to the chase.

“McNulty attacked at the right moment, while Matteo Jorgenson selflessly covered every attack in the finale and disrupted the rhythm of the group,” Slavko Jeric reflected on RTV Slovenia's SOS-odmev podcast.

It also gave Toni Gruden the chance to revive one of the lingering subplots of the UAE-Visma rivalry. “Maybe UAE will finally take Jorgenson off their blacklist now,” he joked.

Talk of a UAE blacklist first surfaced publicly in 2024 through Nils Politt, who spoke about riders inside the peloton being viewed as either friends of the team or falling onto a less desirable list. The idea has since taken on a life of its own, even if UAE riders have played down the suggestion that there is literally a formal blacklist pinned up inside the team bus.

Jorgenson became one of the names most closely associated with it during Visma’s battles with Pogacar.

That was particularly noticeable during the 2025 Tour de France. Even after Jorgenson had slipped a long way down the general classification, Pogacar continued responding whenever the American tried to get up the road. Wout van Aert joked during the second rest day that somebody might need to tell Pogacar just how much time his teammate had already lost.

There was also the much-discussed pushing incident between Pogacar and Jorgenson during that Tour, although both UAE and Visma played down any suggestion of a serious personal feud afterwards. By then, though, the “blacklist” label had stuck.

The American team arrived in Montreal with enough strength to make life difficult for almost every other nation in the race. McNulty, Jorgenson and Simmons all survived deep into the finale, while the plan had been worked out before the start rather than improvised once the race began.

“Jorgenson revealed after the race how they had put the plan together,” Gruden explained. “They sat down over dinner, clearly established the order of the tasks and moves, and then executed it almost exactly as planned.”

Once McNulty attacked, the advantage of having Jorgenson behind became obvious. The soon to be crowned world champion pushed his lead beyond a minute before beginning to crack on the final lap. By the top of the last climb, Tom Pidcock, Mathieu van der Poel, Isaac del Toro and the rest of the chase had closed to a little over ten seconds.

Jorgenson was still sitting among them, chasing down every counter attack tirelessly and blunting the accelerations behind his teammate. “The Americans had them in check because of that,” Gruden said. “The moment they caught McNulty, Jorgenson probably would have gone next.”

As such, nobody wanted to spend everything dragging McNulty back only to give another American the perfect counter-attacking opportunity as shown by the stalling once the leader was back in sight. Once the chasing group hesitated again, McNulty settled back into his rhythm and rebuilt enough of his advantage to reach the finish 13 seconds clear, becoming the first American elite men's road world champion since Lance Armstrong in 1993 and keeping the rainbow jersey inside UAE Team Emirates - XRG for a third consecutive season after Pogacar's titles in 2024 and 2025.

Jorgenson will soon be back in Visma colours and trying to beat Pogacar and UAE rather than helping one of their riders. In Montreal, though, one of Pogacar’s most persistent trade-team rivals spent the decisive kilometres protecting McNulty’s advantage and helped ensure the rainbow jersey stayed inside UAE for a third straight year.